Longing
by shadrougeforever
Summary: When a troubled little girl runs away from home, Shadow and Rouge are on a mission to find and help her. They later realize their job isn't easy when they learn that she has a strange power to foresee gruesome deaths. Now it's up to them to protect her from whatever death has in store for her. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

**SENSELESS DISTURBANCE**

The black night sky had only a few clouds with a bright white full moon shining brightly on the western district of Tech City. The streets seemed rough with the sight of street thugs, prostitutes, homeless civilians, and crack houses. It was a place that only the toughest could survive.

A white bat woman was walking through the deserted like streets towards a dark and suspicious club. She was wearing a pink thigh high dress, black stiletto shoes, and a chain necklace that had a pink heart pendant dangling on it. She had purple eye shadow over her eyes and her long white hair was loosely swaying down her back along with a bang on the right side of her face. She fearlessly walked into the club with a sly smirk on her lips.

Once the bat woman stepped inside of the club, almost all of the bikers who were in there had stopped what they were doing and glued their eyes on the sight of the gorgeous bat woman. Most of the bikers were drunk and began to whisper the things that were running through their minds when they say sight of her. Some of them didn't care if she had heard them or not and had said what they thought out loud.

As she heard most of their perverted comments, she acted as though she didn't even hear them and began to walk to the bar. She felt their eyes watching her as she walked over to the bar. She didn't seem at all worried. If anything, she just seemed annoyed at their behavior. She sat down at the bar counter with her legs crossed and gave the bartender a friendly smile.

The bartender's eyes were wandering all over her body even though he could only see her from the waist up. His eyes seemed stuck on the size of her huge breasts that seemed like they would burst from her slim and tight pink dress any moment. He snapped out of his thoughts when she had cleared her throat to get his attention. "Uh! What can I get you?" He asked with a light blush on his face.

"You can get me a glass of tequila to get my night started", she answered with a seductive smile on her face.

"Coming right up!"

While she was waiting for her drink, she noticed one of the bikers staring at her body while he was sitting next to her. She saw the blank look on his face and just knew that he was drunk. She felt that the situation was rather amusing than scary so she began to form a conversation with him. "Hey there."

The huge and bulky biker formed an evil like smirk and leaned closer to her. "Hey there yourself, little lady. What's a good looking girl like yourself doing here?"

Before she could answer, the bartender set her drink in front of her. She held the glass in her hand, "I'm just doing what everyone else is doing." She took a small sip from her glass, "I'm just here to have some fun."

He chuckled deeply, "Oh really? Me too." His body had gotten closer to hers. So close, she could clearly smell the strong scent of alcohol coming from his breath. "I know where we can both have some fun."

Her calm face had then formed into a defensive one when she saw him extend his hand towards her. Just as she was about to react to the situation, she saw a finger tap the shoulder of the biker.

When the biker turned around, he was immediately punched hard in the face. The impact was so hard, it had knocked his body off of the bar stool he was sitting on and into the back of the bar counter. This had startled the bartender and the rest of the bikers in the club.

The white bat had set down her glass onto the counter angrily and fixed her eyes on a black male hedgehog with red quills on his body and menacing ruby red eyes. He was dressed in a punk style of clothing. He wore a black leather jacket with zippers on the sleeves, pockets, and the collar of the jacket. He had on a red t shirt underneath the jacket, black skinny jeans, and black and white sneakers. "Well don't you have a lot of nerve?"

He grabbed her by her wrist and forcefully pulled her off of the bar stool. He looked into her aqua eyes angrily and growled under his breath. "You're in enough trouble, princess. Don't push me."

She snatched her wrist out of his grip and crossed her arms. "I don't need your help! I can look after myself!"

The bartender's expression was a confused and frightened one and didn't know what to do while he watched the hedgehog and bat argue.

"I'm not even talking about that!" The hedgehog shouted in frustration.

"Then what are you blabbering about?" The bat asked with a bemused look on her face.

"You're disobeying orders!"

"What orders?"

"Don't be stupid!"

Suddenly the biker that the hedgehog had punched, stood from behind the counter and confronted the two. "Who the hell do you think you are!"

The hedgehog sighed heavily, "I don't have time for this…"

"You think you can take me on, little man? I will crush you!" The biker clenched his fist and began to swing at the hedgehog until he had grabbed his fist and pushed him back into other bikers knocking them down as well.

"Well, well, well…" another biker had spoke while he and other bikers had began to approach the hedgehog. "…Looks like we have a tough guy."

The hedgehog saw them taking out knives and began to break glass beer bottles. He crossed his arms while he saw them approaching him. "I wasn't planning on getting my hands dirty tonight but it seems like I don't have a choice here."

The white bat sat back down at the bar counter and began to drink from her glass once again as she began to watch the fight take place.

One biker swung a broken glass bottle at the hedgehog. However, he had grabbed the bottle and at everyone's amazement he had snatched the bottle out of his grip and pulled him into the bikers who were trying to approach him from behind. Another biker tried to hit him with a wooden chair leg, but he grabbed the chair leg and easily tossed his heavy body through the window.

The white bat yawned after she finished her drink and seemed to have gotten bored of watching the hedgehog fight off of the bikers who apparently had no idea who they were up against. She set the glass back down on the counter and stood from the stool. "That's it. I'm out of here."

The hedgehog noticed she had walked out of the door and decided to go after her when he was done fighting the last biker, "Rouge! Get back here!" He took the last biker by his wrist placed it behind his back and kicked him into the counter making him hit his head on the counter and knocking him unconscious. Afterwards, the hedgehog wasted no time and ran out of the bar leaving the bartender shaking and wondering how he had taken down so many bikers without even breaking a sweat. "…Who…was he?"

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Shadow: Rouge, I swear! You're so reckless!**

**Rouge: Oh, Shadow! You worry too much!**

**Shadow: You don't get it! You don't go around dressing like some kind of whore in places like that!**

**Rouge: I can do whatever I want!**

**Shadow: You're driving me crazy!**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

**RELENTLESS TENSION**

When the hedgehog made it outside of the bar, he looked around and saw the white bat woman leaning against the passenger side of a red sports car with her arms crossed. He clenched his fists tightly and stomped his way over to her in uprising anger.

Before she could even move, the hedgehog pinned her wrists down on the door of the car and gave her a cold glare. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Ugh! What the hell is wrong now?" She asked in an annoyed tone.

"You know damn well what's wrong! Why are you here? And why are you dressed like that?"

She gave him the same glare back and pushed his body away from hers. "I came here to help you out!"

"No! I told you to not follow me to this part of the city! It's dangerous!"

The bat paused for a moment and sighed heavily as she rubbed her head before she spoke to him again. "Um yeah…you may have not noticed but…I used to be a hardcore jewel thief and I took on guys who were ten times bigger than those idiots! I'm stronger than I look and you should know that out of everyone else!"

"Yes I do know but that doesn't give you the right to disobey my orders and come out to this trashy hellhole dressing like…like…like some kind of whore!"

"Look who's talking! At least I don't look like I just stepped out a gothapalooza!"

"That's not the point! You don't come out to a place like this dressing like that! That's a sure way that you'll get raped and killed!"

She crossed her arms across her chest angrily. "Oh? Like you care!"

He was beginning to have a headache and as soon as he felt the sharp pain in his head, he decided to just end their pointless arguing. "…Shut up and get in this car! Right now!"

"Fine!" She flung the door open to the car and slammed it shut when she got inside. When she saw him sit in the driver's seat, she turned away from him and angrily stared out of the window with her arms crossed and her legs were up on the dashboard.

He ignored her so called anger towards him and started the car up and began to drive.

When ten minutes had passed during the car ride, the two had noticed that they haven't said anything to each other since they had gotten in the car. Shadow's eyes glanced over to her and saw her still looking out of the window with her arms crossed. He couldn't help but to form a sly smile because he thought her being upset with him was a slightly amusing. "What's wrong, bat girl? Still not talking to me? I'm surprised you went on this long without talking to me. You're usually pretty chatty."

She slowly turned to the hedgehog in annoyance and lazily took her legs from the dashboard, making her dress ride up slightly catching Shadow's attention. "I thought you hated talking? Why are you suddenly in the mood?"

"I just think it's funny to see you throw a tantrum like a spoiled brat."

When she caught Shadow's eyes looking over to her, she made sure he saw her middle finger present. "Fuck you, Shadow."

While they had stopped for a moment at a traffic light, he had made a sly expression at her and suddenly placed his free hand under her chin and made her look into his ruby red eyes. "What's with the skanky dress anyway? Trying to impress someone?"

She suddenly couldn't help but to form a seductive smile, "Maybe I thought I'd run into a certain hedgehog tonight."

He chuckled a bit, "Pink isn't really a turn on for me but I suppose I can work with it."

"I can never really please you can I?" She spoke in a soft voice as she leaned closer to him and began to move her hand around his chest and down to his waist.

He grabbed her by her wrist and formed a smirk, "Keep it above the belt, darling."

She leaned back in her seat and crossed her legs with the same lustful look on her face. "You're really just too much for me sometimes, Shad."

"I could say the same thing about you."

She caressed her hands gently over her thighs and giggled slightly as she tried to do everything in her power to turn him on, "But you love it."

While having a hard time at first, he finally managed to look away from her gorgeous body that was glimmering radiantly in the moonlight. He tried to get a hold of himself and concentrate on driving them both back to her house after the traffic light finally turned green.

Later, the two had both arrived at Rouge's house and were both in her bedroom laying on her bed discussing their night.

The white bat yawned, stretched her body out on the bed, and turned to the black hedgehog who was staring at a small photograph that he was holding in his hand. "So did you have any good leads tonight?"

He sighed heavily as he stared at the photo of a young brown raccoon girl. "I talked to a lot of locals but they were swearing up and down that they never even caught sight of this kid."

She leaned closer to him so she could get a better look at the photograph. "…Josephine…that's her name right?"

He made a small nod, "She's only 10 years old. She ran away from home a couple of months ago. Her mother claimed that she always seemed happy. she had plenty of friends. She was social and outgoing. She was even making good grades in school. Suddenly, she was going on and on about murders…suicides…just everything and anything relating to death."

She found it odd that the girl was having such a good life and she would just talk about such gruesome subjects. "…She's suicidal maybe? Or perhaps she's a murderer?"

He shrugged and placed the picture on the small table beside the bed. "Who knows? But some people from the east district say that they last saw her wandering around in the west district."

"Well in that case, she could already be dead. I mean think about it. She sounds so lost and confused about what's going on in her life and there are so many drunken, stabby, filthy, perverted, homeless psychos roaming those streets."

The hedgehog rose an eyebrow from her description of the 'psychos' that were out in that part of the city. "…Stabby? You couldn't come up with an actual…word?"

"Whatever! You know what I mean!" She got off of the bed, walked towards the window, and stared at the bright full moon in the dark sky. "By the way, I didn't need to be saved from some overgrown drunken biker slob. I could've kicked his ass myself."

His eyes were focused on the back of her body while she was staring out the window and it seemed as though he couldn't turn away. "Well you were encouraging him and I was seeing red when I saw him reach out to you."

She formed a cunning smile while she pretended to stare outside of her window.

"…You wanted me to fucking kill that guy didn't you?"

She slowly turned to him and leaned her back against the window with her arms crossed. "I think it's cute when you're jealous."

An annoyed expression had formed on his face. Even though Rouge thought the situation was funny, he thought differently. "You thought I was jealous? Yeah fucking right! The only thing that pissed me off was when you showed your face in that club dressing like a goddamn hooker! And to top it all off, you disobeyed my orders and decided to come along anyway when I told you earlier today that I would take care of tonight's patrol by myself!"

She sighed heavily and placed her hands on her hips in frustration, "I can't believe you! We're supposed to be teammates! Partners! We're supposed to be patrolling together! Not separately! How can I help out on our missions if you won't allow me to?"

"I told you! It's too dangerous! Besides, I know that district from the back of my hand! It's easier if I just cover it alone!"

"You're missing my point!"

He felt like he wanted to give up on the entire conversation because he knew they weren't going to go anywhere with it. He placed his hand on his throbbing head. "…Well there goes my headache again. I don't even know why I put up with you. All you do is make my head hurt."

She giggled softly as she thought that seeing Shadow so aggravated with her was amusing.

"Well I'm glad you think the headaches you cause me are amusing. You truly are one serious twisted bitch", he spoke with a small smile.

"Really? Is that what you think of me?" She spoke while she made her way over to him and slowly set herself on his stomach while he was still laying on the bed. She leaned herself closer to him and placed her hands on his chest. "I'm being pretty naughty making my supervisor get so many headaches in one night. I feel pretty bad…"

He moaned slightly when he felt her body bounce against his lower stomach gently. "Fuck, Rouge…"

"I've been such a bad girl tonight", she whispered in a seductive tone. "I deserve to be punished." Her forehead had met his and their lips were only inches apart, "Punish me…"

Before things had gotten out of hand, he immediately snapped himself out of it and sat up from the bed and placed his hands on her shoulders while giving her a serious expression. "Look…as much as I want to, I can't tonight. Vector wants me to open tomorrow so that means I have to get up early as shit and it's already 12 in the morning." He winced slightly after she had once again positioned herself on his lower stomach. "Rouge!"

"But I've been so naughty…" She grabbed him by his red shirt and started grinded herself over his uprising manhood slowly. "Teach me a lesson."

"Rouge, I really can't do this…" He suddenly felt her take his hand and place it on the side of her upper thigh. It didn't take long for their eye contact to progress into a slow and passionate kiss.

She wrapped her arms around his neck while their tongues danced in each other's mouths. A small moan escaped her when she felt his hands starting to squeeze her thighs gently.

He took his lips from hers and placed his forehead on hers. "Goddamn it, babe", he murmured under his breath.

"Tear me apart, baby", she whispered in his ear with her hands running over his shoulders.

He sighed heavily, "…Just a quick one and that's all."

She then felt the straps from her dress slip from her shoulders and his hands pulling down the top. A smile of victory formed on her face as she felt his tongue starting to massage her huge and perky bare breasts. She gasped when she felt his grip around her thighs tighten and soon felt his hands were squeezing her butt.

He began to kiss her neck passionately. "Fuck…", he murmured as he made his way up to her lips, "…You really pissed me off tonight you know that?" He squeezed her butt a little harder making her wince a bit. "I'll be sure to teach you a lesson." He pushed her body down onto the end of the bed and ran his hands up her thighs lightly.

Her smile widened as she felt her underwear slowly being taken off. When he had leaned in to kiss her again, she lifted up his shirt as a sign that she wanted it to be taken off of him. She saw him take the shirt off and toss it onto the floor. He leaned in to kiss her soft lips once more while her hands traveled around his back. She then felt her dress being lifted up to her stomach and his lips were gently kissing the inside of her thighs. A small moan escaped her when she felt his tongue softly licking her entrance. She noticed how aggressive he was becoming when he had started to lick her faster.

His hands that were on her thighs had tightened as he suckled her faster. From the sound of her moans that were getting louder by the moment, he could tell she was enjoying it.

She began to grip the bed sheets as she felt herself becoming completely wet. "Oh God…" she panted. As she continued to feel his tongue pleasure her drenched opening, she couldn't help but to get even louder. "Oh fuck, Shadow! Yes!"

He went faster and faster until he felt her sudden warm rush burst into his mouth. He lapped up more of her sweet nectar with his tongue and licked some that was around his mouth.

While she was still laying on the bed, she saw him take the dress she was wearing completely off her body. He grabbed her by her chin with one hand and took his other hand to grab her wrist and sit her body upright from the bed. He stared into her eyes with a lustful look. "Suck it."

She formed a sly smile and started to undo the belt to his pants. "Yes, sir."

He watched as she lowered her head down and began to playfully lick the tip of his hard and erect member with her tongue. He formed an evil smile and grabbed her butt roughly. "I said suck it!"

She winced and groaned slightly from his actions. She always thought him giving her orders in the bedroom was such a turn on for her. However, when the two were actually working, it was an entire different story based from Shadow's attitude at the time. She did as Shadow told her to do and placed her mouth over his huge and hard member.

"Good girl." He stroked his hand through her hair and made his way to her wet opening. He noticed that she started to suck him harder as he began to place two fingers inside of her. He ran his fingers back and forth inside of her. "Go faster."

She bobbled her head back and forth in a faster motion and sucked harder. Her moans grew louder and louder as his fingers penetrated her deeper and stroked against her warm walls faster.

He bit his lip gently from the rush of pleasure building up inside of him but he tried to sustain himself. "Fuck yeah", he spoke in a soft voice as he continued to finger her deeply.

She went deeper and sucked harder and harder until he had suddenly told her to stop.

"That's enough." He saw her immediately stop and slowly look back up at him. He placed his finger under her chin and kissed her roughly. "I'm gonna fuck you nice and hard." He pushed her body back down onto the bed and took his pants completely off. He placed his body over hers and whispered to her in a seductive tone. "I'm gonna fucking tear you apart."

Her body quivered in excitement from the sound of his cold and deep voice. A pleasing smile formed on her lips when she felt him kiss her forehead. She knew right then when he did that, that it was just a reminder to her that he was only acting and would never intend to hurt her or violate her if she wasn't willing. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs were around his body.

He leaned closer to her and kissed her passionately as he was slowly placing himself inside of her.

Rouge groaned slightly while she kissed him because of the sudden feel of pain at first. Though it didn't take long before it started to feel pleasurable. His movements were slow pace for the first few moments until she noticed with every thrust, he was moving faster and faster inside of her.

He took his lips from hers and began to softly kiss and nibble her neck while he keep thrusting himself in and out of her.

She felt him rubbing against her warm and moist walls and it just wanted to make her melt. "Oh fuck…", she panted. "Ye…yes…"

As he went deeper and faster inside of her, he felt her grip around him tighten and her nails stroke his back. He couldn't help but to form a small smirk as he stared at her priceless face while she was having an orgasm. He thought about the real reason why Rouge had disobeyed him and entered that club and it was probably just to piss him off so it would all lead to this. Apparently, Rouge loved rough and aggressive sex which was probably the reason why she always tried so hard to get him aggravated with her.

Rouge had suddenly noticed her body being positioned so she was sitting on his lower stomach and he was laying on his back.

He placed his hands on her butt and gently caressed it, "Ride it."

She made a seductive smile and began to move herself slowly on him. A giggle slipped from her lips when she felt him playfully smack her butt.

"Go faster", he demanded with an smirk.

She did as he wanted and bounced up and down on him faster. She gasped as she felt him buck his hips, making him go deeper inside of her. "Sha…Shadow…", she moaned in an aroused tone.

As he went harder and faster, he felt like he could no longer hold himself back. He sat up from the bed and kissed her roughly as he went harder.

Rouge continued to ride him until she felt his sudden rush of warm juices bursting inside of her. She took her lips from his and collapsed on his body in exhaustion. She placed her head on his chest and felt his fingers stroke through her hair. "God that felt good", she panted heavily.

He chuckled a bit, "You learned your lesson yet?"

"Hell no." She giggled softly

He sighed heavily, "I guess this means I'll have to be twice as rough with you the next time you piss me off."

She stroked her hands around his chest as she looked up at him with a tempting smile. "…So what do I have to do to piss you off again?"

**In The Next Chapter:**

**Shadow: Shit! I knew this was going to happen!**

**Rouge: Hey! Don't blame me! This isn't all my fault you know?**

**Shadow: You provoked me!**

**Rouge: What's this little boy's deal? Is he lost?**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

**LOST**

The sun was shining brightly through the window and lit up Rouge's entire bedroom. With the sun brightening up the room and the sound of birds happily chirping, the tired hedgehog shifted positions lazily while he was sleeping beside Rouge in her bed. He continued to sleep peacefully until he was suddenly awakened by loud heavy metal music coming from the cell phone that was in his pants pocket. He and Rouge instantly sat up from the bed in alarm. "Shit!"

Rouge rubbed her head in annoyance by the obnoxious music. "Damn it, Shadow! Turn that shit off!" She saw him leaning over the bed and searching through the pockets of his pants to find the phone. "For God's sake! It's too early in the morning for that shit!"

"That's the whole point of it being my alarm", he snapped in an irritated tone. Shadow turned the music off and looked at the time that was on the phone. Once he saw what time it was, he slammed the phone down on a table and got out of bed angrily. "Shit! I knew this was going to happen!"

Rouge held the bed sheets over her bare breasts and watched him angrily storm around the room to find his clothes to get dressed. "What time is it?" She saw him go into her closet and tossed a black trench coat on the floor. On the upper right arm of the coat was a white armband and it had a red kanji that read 'captain' on it.

He quickly put on his black jeans and red t shirt, "It's fucking six o'clock", he spoke in an angry tone. "I need to be at the Chaotix now." He picked his phone off of the table and placed it back into his pants pocket. "Vector's gonna flip shit on me for being late opening up the agency…again!"

She sighed and spotted Shadow's cigarettes on the table beside her. "Calm down, babe. Maybe he won't be there." She took a cigarette out of the pack and lit it with the white lighter that was setting on the table as well.

After when he put his shoes on, Shadow gave her a cold look as he saw her take one of his cigarettes. He sighed heavily and snatched the box of half empty cigarettes off the table along with the lighter. "And you! Get your lazy ass out of bed! You have an hour to get ready!"

Rouge leaned her head back on the headboard of the bed while calmly smoking the cigarette.

"I come as your supervisor first! If I don't see you there on time, I will write you up!"

She blew out some smoke out of her mouth and sent him an annoyed look. "Oh Shadow, shut up! You won't do shit! Besides, you're just grumpy cause you woke up late!"

He started to put on his trench coat, "I wouldn't be late if somebody didn't keep me up all night!"

She shrugged her shoulders, "It's not all my fault. You're the one who said only one time."

"Yeah and you came along and turned that one time into two or three more times instead!" He rubbed his forehead as he felt another headache coming on, "Forget it! We'll talk more about this at work! I'll give you Hell then!"

She made a small smile as she was enjoying the fact that he was so angry with her. "Mhm, I'm sure you will, hun."

"Fuck you, Rouge", he growled.

She watched him open the door to the bedroom and then slam it shut. She put the cigarette out in the ashtray that was setting on the table beside her. She looked in the ashtray and saw that the many cigarettes that were in the ashtray that mainly belonged to Shadow. She never thought of herself as a smoker but she always intended on smoking while her and Shadow always got in a spat with each other. Especially when the cigarettes she had most of the time were his. She looked out of the window and stared at the clear blue sky. "Just another average day for a gal like me."

Later, Rouge was walking down the crowded streets of the city. She walked sluggish and she seemed tired like. She huffed and drooped her ears. "Damn that hedgehog", she murmured. "He thinks he's the only one tired, he'd better think again. I knew that one cup of coffee wasn't going to do the trick." She suddenly paused and stopped in her tracks when she had an uneasy feeling that she was being followed. She shifted her eyes to the side, enough so that she could catch a glimpse of a small child standing behind her. She didn't think it was a big deal after knowing it was only a child so she kept walking. Once she saw the child following her again, she immediately stopped and turned to the child in annoyance.

The child appeared to be a 10 year old brown raccoon with black hair with most of it being hidden under the dark blue hat that he wore. The child was dressed in ripped and dirty clothing. The child wore a ripped blue jacket, with a white shirt underneath, blue ripped denim jeans, and torn up white sneakers. Judging by the appearance, the child seemed homeless.

She couldn't put her finger on it but the child seemed familiar to her. She tried to shake off the thought. "Are you following me, kid?"

The child said nothing and just stared at her.

With the child staring at her with wide bright green eyes, it started to make her feel uncomfortable. "If you want food, I don't have any on me. So go bug someone else." When she continued to walk, the child started to follow her again. She once again stopped, clenched her fists and spun around to the child in annoyance. "Stop following me!" She saw the child pointing at her.

"…Are you a cop?"

She arched an eyebrow at the child and looked down at the purple uniform she was wearing. She had supposed the child knew that she worked for some kind of special force. She crossed her arms and looked back at the child. "I'm just a detective."

The child gave her a look full of curiosity. "But you still help people right?"

She began to wonder why the child was asking her so many questions. Perhaps the child was in some kind of danger or maybe the child was expecting her to save him from the street life he was living. She slowly kneeled down at the child, "What's wrong, sweetie? Are you in some kind of trouble?"

The child shrugged and shook his head slowly. "I…don't know…"

She arched her eyebrow as she found it odd if the child didn't know he was in trouble or not.

The child spoke in a low voice so that only Rouge could hear him. "I'm too scared to go to the police…don't take me to the police…"

Her heart raced as she heard the child's strange request. "Where are your parents?" She asked softly, "Are you lost?"

Tears swelled in the child's eyes as he remained quiet.

Suddenly Rouge was embraced by the child.

"Promise you'll help me", the child begged while he hugged her.

Not really knowing what to do, she embraced the child with an uneasy feeling deep down in her stomach.

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Shadow: What's going on here?**

**Rouge: I think this child is in trouble, Shad.**

**Joseph: My name is Joseph and I'm a girl you jerk!**

**Shadow: I'll kill you, you mouthy brat!**


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

**LOST ANGEL**

Later, Espio was talking to Shadow in the main lobby of the Chaotix. He gave him a sly look as he spoke to the hedgehog. He let out a chuckle, "So Vector blew up on you again? Why are you acting so surprised?"

The hedgehog rubbed his forehead in frustration. "I hate it when Vector gets like that. Doesn't he know that when he puts me on those late night missions, I'm gonna show up late regardless?" He then felt the chameleon playfully nudge his arm.

"Oh come on, Shad", he spoke in a low voice. "You can't simply blame everything on your late night assignment. You were out with bat girl after all."

He crossed his arms and shifted his eyes away from him. Espio was the only one out of the group of detectives that knew about Shadow and Rouge's intimate friendship. "I told you don't bring that shit up around here. Are you trying to bust me and Rouge? If Vector ever found out, he'd kill us."

The chameleon shrugged his shoulders apathetically. "Hey if you and bat girl stopped fooling around so much during your missions, you would be here on time. That's all I'm trying to say."

Shadow gritted his teeth angrily, "When that girl gets here she's gonna be in so much trouble…" He suddenly felt his cell phone vibrate inside of his pants pocket. When he checked his phone it was a text message from Rouge. He glanced through the message, sighed heavily, and put his phone away.

Espio saw Shadow's annoyed expression. "What's going on?"

The hedgehog shrugged, "Rouge just wants me to see her outside."

The chameleon arched an eyebrow in confusion. "Why?"

"She didn't say. All I know is this better be fucking important."

He then saw the hedgehog walk out of the door and slam it on his way out. He shook his head while cracking a smile. "Those two just need to go out already."

When Shadow made his way outside of the Chaotix, he walked behind the building to find Rouge standing there waiting for him. "Rouge, what's going on here? I don't have time to play any games. Vector's not happy and…" His words trailed off when he saw a young child appear from behind Rouge. He looked back at her with a puzzled look on his face. "What's going on here?"

Rouge kneeled down at the child and held the frightened child's hand while she began to explain to Shadow. "Shad, I found this child roaming around alone. He says he needs help."

Shadow took a good look at the child and judging by the appearance, the child seemed homeless. He looked back at Rouge. "What's the problem?"

Rouge turned to the child, "Tell us what's wrong, sweetie?"

The child stared at the black hedgehog who was eagerly waiting for some answers. He stared at the armband that was pinned to the arm of his coat and figured that he must be the leader of the Chaotix detectives. He began to get uneasy and took a step back. "…I don't trust him."

Shadow and Rouge's eyes shifted towards each other by the child's reaction to Shadow.

Rouge tried to form a calming smile at the child. "You don't trust Shadow? Honey, Shadow won't hurt you. He only wants to help."

The child gave the hedgehog a cold look with him giving him the same look back. "How will I know you won't turn me into the police?"

The hedgehog leaned his back against the brick wall of the building and crossed his arms. "Did you kill anyone?"

The child slowly shook his head and seemed to hesitate. "N-No…"

"Well that gives me one reason to not turn you into the cops."

The child was still feeling uneasy around the hedgehog.

"Why don't you begin by telling us your name, boy?"

The child rose an eyebrow towards the hedgehog. "Boy? How dare you!" He walked over to the hedgehog and kicked him hard in the knee.

"God damn it!" He yelled as he held his leg in pain.

"I'm a girl! You fucking dick!" The child stomped her foot on the ground angrily.

Rouge placed her hands over her mouth in shock when she saw the child suddenly attack Shadow. She quickly pulled the child away from Shadow when she saw him giving her a violent look. She made the child stand behind her when Shadow tried to confront her.

"Rouge, move! I'm gonna teach that brat a lesson!"

"Shadow, for God's sake! Calm down! She's only a little girl!"

When he saw the girl fleeing behind Rouge, he decided to take a deep breath and settle down a little. "What a sassy brat", he growled under his breath.

While Shadow was trying to calm down, Rouge turned to the child. "Don't mind him. What's your name?"

"…Joseph…"

Shadow's eyes widened as he heard the name. The way she looked and by the way her named sounded dangerously familiar. He quickly took out the picture of the missing child that he and Rouge were supposed to find. He studied the picture then looked back at the child. The appearance was a perfect match. "Joseph…your name is Josephine…isn't it?"

The girl made a small yet hesitant nod.

Shadow pulled Rouge to the side and began to whisper to her. "She's the girl we've been looking for."

She nodded, "I know."

"We have to turn her in", he whispered. "She needs to get back home."

Rouge looked back at the girl and then turned back to Shadow. "Don't you remember why she probably ran away in the first place? She's in some kind of trouble. If we send her back, she'll just probably keep running away."

He sighed heavily as he agreed with her.

"We have to help her, Shadow. We have to find out what's wrong with her."

He turned away from her and looked back at the strange yet frightened girl. He couldn't deny the fact that he knew just taking her back home wouldn't solve her problems.

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Joseph: Your boyfriend's not very nice...**

**Rouge: Wha? He...He's not my boyfriend!**

**Shadow: If you didn't dress like a freakin' paperboy, I would have never called you a boy, you mouthy little runt!**

**Joseph: Just because I'm flat chested, it doesn't mean I'm a boy!**

**Shadow: You're a child! How am I supposed to know?**

**Rouge:...Oh dear God kill me now...**


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

**WHEN DEATH COMES KNOCKING…**

Much later, Shadow, Rouge, and Joseph were sitting at a small round table outside of a café. There didn't appear to be a lot of people sitting near them. Shadow was texting on his cell phone, Rouge was drinking a milkshake and Joseph was eating a huge portion of snacks.

Rouge looked over to Shadow after she took a few sips from her milkshake. "Does Vector know what's going on?"

After Shadow was done texting he put his phone away. "I just told Espio to tell Vector we got caught up in an emergency."

Before Rouge could speak, Joseph had spoke up after she took another bite out of a chocolate cake she was eating.

"Thanks for treating me!" She spoke in a grateful tone. "I was starving!"

The bat woman formed a warm smile. "It's no problem, sweetie."

"You're super nice!" Her eyes then flashed over to the annoyed black hedgehog. "Except this guy. Your boyfriend's not very nice."

Rouge's face turned red from the girl's comment. "Wha? He's not boyfriend!"

The hedgehog slammed his fists down on the table and glared at the little girl. "What! If you didn't dress like a fucking paperboy, I wouldn't have called you a boy!"

The child stared at Rouge's massive cleavage that was clearly visible from her purple top. "It must be nice being pretty…", she spoke in a sad tone. "They're so big."

A deep red blush formed on the white bat's face. "Huh?" She looked down at her breasts in embarrassment from the child's comment.

"How did you get them to get so big?"

With the blush getting deeper and deeper on her face, she barely had any idea how to approach the topic about puberty and growing up. "Well…uh…you'll get some like these some day…when you're older…"

The child's smile faded and her eyes lowered down onto the table.

Shadow and Rouge gave each other confused looks as they noticed the change in the girl's mood.

"I bet it's nice…growing taller, having more freedom, becoming an adult…I'll never get to experience that feeling…"

Rouge gave the girl a sympathetic look. "What do you mean, sweetie?"

"The truth is…I'll die before I even make it to being a teen…"

Shadow and Rouge's mouth dropped as they heard her talking about her death.

"…What are you saying?" Shadow had asked.

The girl looked away from the table and looked back at the two. "You wanna know why I ran away from home? It's because I'm too afraid…" She began to explain, "I know this will sound crazy but…I have a weird power."

Shadow and Rouge continued to listen to the girl.

"I have visions…to foresee death…"

Shadow and Rouge remained quiet and gave each other looks that told that the girl was possibly lying to them.

The girl had a feeling that they didn't really believe her story. "You don't believe me and I understand…no one really believes me until it starts happening." She turned and saw an elderly lady attempting to cross the street. "You see that old woman over there?" She spoke softly.

Shadow and Rouge spun around and saw the old woman as well.

"Yeah", Shadow spoke. "What about her?"

She sighed sadly. "She's gonna die…any minute now."

Shadow couldn't believe any of what she was saying. She thought she was lying. "You're full of shit."

Rouge glared at the hedgehog angrily, "Shadow", she growled.

The girl looked away from the old woman and looked down at the table in sadness. "She'll get hit by a car but it won't appear as it seem."

Shadow saw the old woman cross the street and made her way to the other side of the sidewalk. He looked back at Joseph giving her an annoyed look. "Like I thought. You're full of shit. She's fine."

She shook her head slowly without even looking up at Shadow. "Look again."

When Shadow and Rouge looked back, they saw a blue car coming fast around a corner.

Inside of the car were two young teenagers who seemed like they weren't paying attention to where they were driving and hit the old woman without even slamming on the brakes.

Shadow and Rouge stood up from their chairs in shock and saw people starting to crowd over to where the old woman was run over. They saw the two teenagers quickly getting out of their car and looking at the dead old woman in shock.

Rouge couldn't believe that Joseph was telling the truth. "This is impossible…"

Shadow looked back at the girl who had tears streaming from her face.

Joseph shook her head slowly and began to sob softly. "I just want it to stop…"

Suddenly, they both saw Joseph jump out of her chair and began to run away from the two.

"Joseph!" Rouge called but the little girl kept running. "Wait!" She and Shadow both began to run after her.

Joseph didn't get very far. Once she ran into a narrow alley, Shadow had grabbed her by her wrist that prevented her from getting away. She struggled to break free from his grip but it seemed to be no use. "Let go of me! Let me go!" She screamed.

Once Rouge caught up to them, she tried to calm the girl down by hugging her. When she held the child close to her, Shadow let her go and allowed her to be held by Rouge. As she embraced the frightened child, she heard the girl sobbing even more.

"I want it to stop…I just want it to end…"

Rouge rubbed her back and softly hushed her. "It's okay, sweetie. It's okay." She looked up at Shadow and gave him a sympathetic look as she held the frightened girl in her arms.

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Rouge: What are we gonna do, Shad?**

**Shadow: We have to turn her in...**

**Joseph: Maybe I'm not strong enough to handle this...**

**Shadow: What do you mean?**

**Joseph: I long for death...**


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

**NOTHING BUT A FAIRY TALE**

Later that night at Rouge's house, Shadow was sitting with Rouge on her bed while they were both in her bedroom. Rouge tiredly leaned her head against his back. "Did you tell Vector what was going on?"

The hedgehog made a small nod. "Yeah. He wants us to bring Joseph there tomorrow."

Her ears perked up and she decided to sit beside him on the bed. "To the Chaotix? What does he plan to do?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. He probably wants to turn Joseph in."

The bat woman bit her lip lightly as she knew that Joseph didn't want to be taken home. "But she…"

"…I know but we can't let her stay roaming around the streets. It's too dangerous for her."

Rouge remained quiet until a random thought came to her mind but before she could speak, Shadow had spoken.

His eyes flashed over to hers. "Don't even think about it."

She arched an eyebrow at the hedgehog in confusion. "What?"

He turned to her and held her hand. "I know that you're fond of her but she can't stay here."

She couldn't believe it. He had read her mind. She didn't think it was that obvious that the thought had occurred to her. Perhaps he was thinking it too but regardless, he was right. Joseph belonged at home with her mother. She sighed heavily, "It was just a thought…"

He shook his head slowly, "It just wouldn't work out."

She held his hand tighter and rested her head on his shoulder. "Maybe you should talk to her before we take her to the Chaotix tomorrow."

He thought that talking to her about it would possibly calm her down about the idea rather than having her feeling betrayed by the idea. "I'll talk to her."

When Shadow made his way into Joseph's room, he saw her laying in a small bed already being wide awake.

As she saw him come into the room and close the door gently behind him, she rose her head from her pillow. She saw the hedgehog walking over to her. "Detective Hedgehog?"

He sat on the bed next to her. "I didn't wake you did I?"

The child shook her head, "No. I couldn't sleep anyway. Nightmares and stuff…"

He could imagine that she could barely get any sleep because of her always having visions of people dying. "I understand where you're coming from."

There was an awkward moment of silence between them until Joseph spoke up.

She bit her lip lightly and hesitated to look at the hedgehog. "I just wanted to say sorry for earlier…I shouldn't have kicked you. I was just scared."

The hedgehog couldn't help but to chuckle. This unfortunately hasn't been the first time someone had felt intimidated by Shadow's appearance. He even had to agree that during first impressions, he never had a warm welcome kind of attitude. "It's cool. I apparently scare a lot of people."

Since her and Shadow were finally on the same page with each other, she decided to start a casual conversation with him. "So Detective Bat isn't your girlfriend?"

He paused for a moment after when she had just asked him such a random question. He slowly shook his head. "No we're just friends."

She hung her mouth open in disbelief from his response. "Wha? Then how come I saw you two kissing on the sofa after when you guys brought me here?"

His face turned a deep red after finding out that she had seen them. "You saw that?"

"Duh!"

"But weren't you sleeping?"

She formed a sly smirk. "I was pretending."

"Crap", he murmured. He buried his face in the palm of his hands in embarrassment.

"So if you and Detective Bat aren't girlfriend and boyfriend, then why were you two kissing?"

He was screwed. How was he supposed to explain to a 10 year old girl about friends, friends with benefits, and relationships? He slowly took his face from his hands and turned to the curious child. "We're just…really close friends."

She formed a warm smile at the hedgehog. "So like…do you love her?"

His heart raced as she began to hammer him with questions about his relationship with Rouge. He didn't know what to honestly tell her. "Well…I…don't know…everything's complicated right now."

She arched an eyebrow towards the black hedgehog. "Is romance always this difficult when you're an adult?"

He shook his head and formed a small smile. "Well I'll put it to you this way, it's nothing like anything they say it is in fairy tales."

"Well, if you want my opinion, I think Detective Bat is really pretty and nice too. You two should get married someday!"

Shadow didn't know how much more he could take with her talking about his and Rouge's relationship. He wanted to slam his head into the wall repeatedly. "Okay can we stop talking about me and Rouge now? Please!"

She giggled when she saw how red Shadow's face was becoming with embarrassment. "Fine I'll cut you a break for now." With her getting so personal with Shadow and Rouge's affairs, she decided to change the subject. She looked and pointed at the armband that was pinned to his coat. "What does that mean?"

He looked at his armband and began to explain to her what it meant. "Oh this? It means I'm second in command of the Chaotix."

"Really?" She spoke in disbelief, "I thought you were the leader or something."

He couldn't really blame her for mistaking him as the leader. Many people thought that Shadow had ran the Chaotix instead of Vector. Most of the time, Vector never really acted like the leader just simply because he always had Shadow to lean on when things got too rough for him to handle. "I get that quite a lot."

"So how long have you and Detective Bat worked for that Chaotix place?"

"I've been there for a long time. Since I was 18. I didn't meet Rouge until I was about 23."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Holy crap! You're old!"

A light blush formed on the hedgehog's face. "Who the hell are you calling old! I'm in my mid 20s!"

The young girl started laughing from Shadow's sudden outburst.

After when she started laughing he couldn't help but to join in with her. "You're too much you know that? You know even though you're young, you act very mature for your age."

Her smile faded a bit, "Well living on the streets for a few months will kind of force you to grow up a little."

"Don't you ever miss your mom?"

"Of course I miss her. I just…" Her words trailed off and she looked down at the bed sheets. "…I just couldn't handle seeing these visions. I just wanted to run away. Run away from death. But no matter how far I run, I can never escape it…Everywhere I turned, someone always died."

Shadow continued to listen to her sad story.

"I know I'm young and all and I don't understand much about the world but…I don't think I'll ever make it…"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not strong enough to handle it. Maybe I'm crazy or something but I think the only way to stop seeing these things is to just end it…" She began to clench the bed sheets.

"…End it?" He repeated blankly.

"…I don't deserve to live in this kind of Hell. Many people long for a long life but I don't…I long for death…"

His heart practically skipped a beat as he heard her suddenly talking about ending her own life. "…Joseph…"

Tears began to drip from her face as she looked down at the blue bed sheets she was clenching. "I know everyone has tried but…no one can help me. No one can save me…"

"Joseph, please…"

"I'm going to die soon…I just know it."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Did she foresee her own death or was she just implying that she would attempt to kill herself? "Joseph stop saying that…"

She slowly looked up at the shocked hedgehog with tears streaming down her face. "I know you'll try to help me but it won't make a difference. No one can ever cheat death…"

He watched her suddenly embrace him and started sobbing softly.

"I don't wanna do this anymore", she sobbed. "I'm so scared."

As she cried onto him, he gently rubbed her back while he tried to comfort her. "Regardless of what's supposed to happen, I swear we'll do everything in our power to make sure your safe."

Even though she formed a small smile through her tears, she still couldn't help but to have a bad feeling about the situation.

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Rouge: Is she okay?**

**Shadow: She's scared...just scared...**

**Rouge: ...Do you truly care about me?**

**Shadow: ...Is this really love?**


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

**WHAT IF…**

When Shadow stepped back inside of Rouge's bedroom, he saw her laying in bed glancing through a jewelry magazine looking quite bored.

When she heard the door shutting gently, she peeked her eyes away from the magazine and watched Shadow making his way towards the small window.

He was just mindless staring out into the dark night sky.

She began to get concerned for him. Judging by his mood, it seemed that his talk with Joseph didn't go very well. She set the magazine down on the small table beside the bed and turned to the hedgehog. "So", she began. "How did she take it? About bringing her to the Chaotix?"

It took a moment before Shadow even bothered to respond. "That didn't really come up…"

She gave him a grimaced look. "What do you mean it didn't come up?…Is she okay?"

"She's fine", he spoke in an unsure tone. "She's just sleeping."

She knew that there had to be more to what he was telling her. He had been in her room far too long to not say a single word to her. "What happened? Did you guys talk about something else or…"

He rested his head on the cold glass of the window. "She kept saying that she was going to die soon and that she was scared…very scared."

She gasped in horror when she figured that Joseph was still talking about killing herself. "She's talking about suicide again?" She got out of bed and walked over to Shadow. "We can't leave her alone in there all night if she's…"

When he finally turned to her, he saw her wearing quite a revealing red lingerie dress. "No I don't think it's nothing like that."

She gave him a doubtful look. By the way she was talking earlier, she seemed pretty serious about ending her own life.

"She acted like something was going to come after her. Like something had wanted to take her life instead."

She placed her finger on her chin. "She thinks someone is out to get her?"

He shrugged his shoulders as he became doubtful that anyone would just attempt to kill her. "I think she's just scared. All kinds of paranoia is running through her head."

Rouge had to agree that the state Joseph was in would freak her out so bad, she would begin to think death would be out to get her as well. She leaned her body against his and sighed while he held her in his arms. "I hope she'll be all right."

He could tell that she was already getting concerned for Joseph and didn't want to worry her anymore than she was. "She will. We just have to keep an eye on her until tomorrow." She made a nod agreeing with him. She suddenly heard a small chuckle coming from him. She lifted her head from his chest and gave him a confused look. "What?"

He made his way over to bed and sat on it. "Joseph saw us making out on the couch earlier."

A light blush of embarrassment formed on her face. "What? I-I thought she was asleep or something!"

He shrugged and started to take off his black trench coat. "Apparently she wasn't."

She sighed heavily and sat beside him while she crossed her legs. "Well I guess it could've been worse. She could've caught us banging on the couch instead."

After when she said that, he began to become grateful that she had only saw them kissing and nothing else. "Heh, I suppose you're right."

She saw him toss his coat to the floor. "So are you going to stay tonight?"

"Yeah I suppose another night here won't kill me. Besides, I'll be here in case something happens."

She thought it would be for the best since both of them were cautious of Joseph's behavior. "That sounds like a good idea."

He arched an eyebrow towards her. "Oh really?" When he had laid down on the bed, he forced Rouge to rest her body on top of his.

She couldn't help but to blush as her head rested on his chest.

He held her hand in his as they both rested on the bed. "Or did you just want someone to cuddle with tonight?"

Her blush deepened on her face, "Don't be stupid! I'm not that needy!"

"You're not as tough as you claim to be you know? Have you been counting the times I had to save you throughout the years?"

She made her way to the other side of the bed and laid beside him. She lightly punched him in the arm and giggled. "You're acting like such a cocky jerk!"

"What?" He got on top of her body and began to tickle the sides of her stomach. "I thought you liked cocky jerks?"

She started to uncontrollably laugh while he tickled her. "Stop! I'm ticklish!"

"You don't think I know that?" He spoke with a smirk.

She noticed that he had stopped tickling her and saw him slowly leaning close to her. Before she knew it she was caught in a passionate lip lock with him. The way he was acting towards her had shocked her. It was rare when Shadow would playfully flirt with her. She thought that maybe it was something Joseph said to make him act like this. She slowly pulled her lips from his and caressed his cheek lovingly as she stared into his deep red eyes. "Hey, Shad? I know we've been through this before but…what are we?"

He figured that she was asking about their relationship. He knew she wanted to know if he wanted them to remain friends or to become something else. "I told you before. I just don't know if I'm ready for us to give it a go just yet. Things are…complicated."

With her hearing that familiar answer yet again, she couldn't help but to feel slightly disappointed. She liked him a lot. Perhaps she even loved him and it hurt that he wasn't sure how he felt about her. "But you do care about me…don't you?"

He stoked his fingers through her white hair, "Of course I care about you, Rouge. I'm just not sure if this is love or something else. I just don't want to hurt you."

She slowly shifted her eyes from his. He tried to mean well and not get himself emotionally attached to her however, it was a little too late on her end.

"But I do know that you're the only woman to make me this happy in a long time. I don't know where I'd be without you."

After hearing him say that, she couldn't help but to make a warm smile and pull him into a passionate kiss.

As he returned the kiss, his hands began to slowly travel around her body.

It wasn't long before she felt her red lingerie dress being shifted and lifted as his hand caressed her bare thigh. A small moan escaped her when she felt her bare opening being stroked gently.

He gently nibbled on her neck. "No underwear? Were you expecting this to happen?"

She giggled as her hands traveled around his back. "Doesn't this always happen when you stay the night here?"

He couldn't help but agree with her. It was rare when they spent alone time together that they parted without having sex beforehand.

She let out a small gasp when she felt his fingers slowly being inserted into her wet opening. Her hands made her way to the belt of his pants. When she undid his belt, he had took his pants off and tossed them on the floor. As the two passionately kissed, her legs wrapped around his body. She winced slightly as he slowly penetrated her with his large and erect member. She gripped his shoulders as he went deeper inside of her. "Oh God, Shadow", she spoke seductively. "It feels so good."

"I'm glad you like this", he spoke with a smirk.

When he began to thrust himself in and out of her, her moans grew louder and louder. "Oh, Shadow! Yes! Your dick feels so good inside of me!"

He leaned over to her and whispered softly in her ear. "Be a little more quiet, sweetheart. Virgin ears are just down the hall."

Her eyes widened as she forgot all about Joseph being in the house as well. "Sorry I forgot."

He lightly chuckled and kissed her forehead gently before he continued to pleasure her.

When his thrusts had gotten faster, she didn't know if she could stay quiet. Her moans were still fairly loud.

Shadow rolled his eyes in annoyance. Rouge was never really a shy and quiet person to be around. Especially in bed. "For God's sake, Rouge. Just bite into my shoulder."

She gripped her hands around his body and sunk her teeth into his shoulder to perhaps help her with being so loud. When she noticed his thrusts getting harder and faster, she suddenly felt a warm and wet sensation explode inside of her. She slowly took her teeth from his shoulder and saw him collapse on the other side of the bed.

The two tried to catch their breath before speaking to each other.

Shadow rose up from the bed and turned to the exhausted bat woman laying beside him. "I never realized how fucking loud you are until now", he panted.

She placed her hand on her sweaty, heaving chest. "Shut up! Don't make fun of me!" She saw him lean over to her and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"What are you gonna do? Yell and scream at me?"

She playfully hit his arm and turned away from him as she was about to go to sleep. "Shut up and go to sleep."

A warm smile formed on his lips as he stared at her body sleeping beside him. He had to admit that he couldn't get what Joseph had said to him out of his mind. Did he really want to live the rest of his days with her? He imagined what it could be like and he couldn't help but to have a warm feeling about the thought.

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Rouge: She's gone! Joseph's gone!**

**Joseph: They were going to take me back...**

**Rouge: What the hell is that thing?**

**Shadow: Rouge, look out!**


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

**ONLY IN DEATH**

Much later, Rouge had suddenly woken from her sleep. She felt it strange how she had suddenly woken up in the middle of the night. She had a feeling that something was not right. A bad feeling was settling at the pit of her stomach. She had the urge to go and check on Joseph. She slowly got out of bed and began to walk towards the door of her bedroom until she spun around and turned to Shadow. She watched him still sleeping peacefully like a sweet child. She decided not to wake him and continued to leave the room. When she finally made her way into Joseph's room, she looked around the dark room to see if she could spot her body sleeping in the small bed. With the moonlight shining from the small window of the room, the light had radiated on the bed. From where she was standing the bed seemed empty. Her heart raced in uprising panic. She quickly turned on the lights and didn't see any trace of Joseph in the small room. Her body shook in panic. "No…" she murmured.

When she ran back into her bedroom, she turned on the lights and tried to wake Shadow. "Shadow!" She called as she ran over to him and began to shake his sleeping body. "Shadow, wake up!"

The hedgehog peaked his eyes open in annoyance at the worried bat woman. "Wha? What the hell is going on?"

"Joseph!" She shouted in alarm. "She's gone!"

He rose his head up from his pillow and gave her a worried look. "Are you sure?"

She made a nod, "Yes! I looked everywhere for her! She's nowhere in the house!"

He stood up from the bed and rubbed her shoulders to calm her down. "Calm down. I had a feeling she would attempt to run away so I placed a tracking device on her."

"You did? Shadow, that's brilliant." She saw him pull out his communicator from the holster on his pants. She noticed him staring at the screen. "Well?" She spoke eagerly. "Do you know where she is?"

He responded without looking away from his communicator. "She's somewhere in the outskirts of the city."

She gasped in shock from his answer. "What? What is she doing way out there?"

He shook his head and placed the communicator back in the holster of his pants. "I don't know but we have to find her before she gets hurt."

She made a nod in agreeing with him. She had hoped they both found Joseph before something bad happened to her.

Later, Joseph was wandering around the dark and eerie woods that was far from the city. As she walked throughout the deep woods, she looked around nervously. 'I didn't want to run away', she thought. 'Detective Hedgehog and Detective Bat are really nice but they were going to bring me back home…I just know it…' She stopped in her tracks when she heard a radio off in the distance and someone responding back.

"Still no sign of subject X-23. Resuming mission."

She looked around until she saw someone walking throughout the woods wearing a dark blue military like uniform. He wore a black helmet so she couldn't see his face. He was also carrying a rifle with a flashlight attached to it. She looked closer at the words that were imprinted on the chest of the vest the person was wearing. Her eyes widened as she saw the word, G.U.N. She thought that the strange figure in uniform was a military officer. She had wondered why a military officer would be roaming around the outskirts of the city during this time late at night. Whatever the reason was, she had no intention of finding out. Before could she walk away, she had accidentally stepped on a stick and snapped causing the military officer to look in her direction.

He pointed his rifle around the area Joseph was hiding in. "Who's there? Come out now!" He ordered. It wasn't long before the small raccoon child peeked her head out and nervously confronted him. He slowly lowered his gun when he saw sight of the child. "What are you doing out here?"

She hesitated to answer to him. "I…um…" Her eyes widened when she saw him walking over to her.

"It's too dangerous here. Come with me. I'll take you home."

As he walked closer to her, she began to step away from him. "No! You won't make me go back!"

When he saw her turn and starting to run away from him, he began to run after her. "Hey! Stop!"

She continued to run from him until she suddenly bumped into a familiar bat woman who was dressed in a purple uniform. She screamed when she felt her arm being grabbed by her. "No!"

"Joseph!"

When she heard the familiar feminine voice, she looked up at the bat woman and realized it was none other than Rouge with Shadow standing by her side. "Detective Bat?"

Rouge hugged the frightened child in relief. "Thank God you're okay!"

When the officer caught up to her, he saw her with the two detectives. "Who are you? State your names!"

The black hedgehog flashed his eyes over to the man in uniform in uprising anger. He figured by the way Joseph was reacting to him, he must had frightened her pretty badly. "Who the hell do you think you are? What did you do to her?"

The officer confronted the angry hedgehog. "I don't know who the hell you think you are! Step aside! I'm taking that child with me!"

"Joseph is in our care! Back off!"

While Shadow and the officer were arguing, Joseph turned to Rouge with a worried expression. "Detective Bat, we have to go!"

She gave her a confused look. "I know you're scared but everything is going to be okay."

The child shook her head. "No! You don't understand! It's here!"

Rouge's heart raced when she noticed Joseph panicking. "What are you talking about? What's here?"

The officer still continued to argue with Shadow. "You're pretty bold going up against a G.U.N. soldier. Insubordination against orders can have you placed under arrest!"

Shadow had a deep hatred for the G.U.N. military and the officer he had confronted wasn't changing this thoughts on the military one bit. He grabbed the officer by the collar of his dark blue vest. "Listen to me you pompous piece of shit!" Before he could say anymore, a strange four legged brown creature with sharp claws, sharp fangs, a long tail, and bloodthirsty red eyes had came from the darkness of the woods and confronted the group.

Rouge stared at the creature in disbelief. "Oh my…"

Shadow fixed his eyes on the strange creature as well. "What the hell?"

"It's the subject!" Before he could raise his gun to fire at the creature, the creature took its tail and whacked him hard into a tree. The impact hit him so hard, it knocked him unconscious.

Afterwards the creature fixed its sights on Joseph who was standing beside Rouge.

When Shadow saw the creature making its way towards them, he took out his handgun and shot it in the back to distract it.

Even though the gunshots didn't do much to slow it down, it spun around to confront the hedgehog and charged at him with its fangs parted.

He kept firing the gun at it until it ran up to him and knocked him to the ground.

When Rouge thought he needed help, she looked down at the frightened child standing next to her. "Stay here, Joseph."

The child did as she was told and watched her send a powerful kick to the creature's side to knock it off of Shadow. She helped Shadow off of the ground and turned to the monster that was still determined to kill them. "What the hell is that thing?" Her eyes widened when she saw the creature fixing its eyes on Joseph. She gasped in horror, 'That thing…was this the thing that Joseph foresaw?' Her heart raced when the thought occurred to her.

When the officer gained consciousness again, he saw the creature slowly approaching the small child.

Frightened, Joseph began to step away from the creature that was approaching her. It was only a matter of time when it started to run over to her to attack her. She screamed and closed her eyes as the creature approached her.

Before it could touch her, Rouge jumped in between them and stabbed it in its throat with a combat knife. The creature cried in pain and collapsed to the ground.

Shadow let out a huge sigh of relief.

Rouge slowly spun around to the scared child and formed a warm smile. "I told you everything would be okay. You're still here."

The child couldn't believe it. She just knew that the strange monster would've taken her life but in the end, Rouge had saved her. She was beginning to think that death could be cheated after all. She looked up at the bat woman with a wide and warm smile.

Shadow's heart skipped a beat when he saw the creature starting to slowly moving its body. "Rouge!"

Rouge saw the creature standing behind Joseph. Before she could do anything, she heard a loud gunfire and she was suddenly covered in blood. She looked back at Joseph who was staring at her with a frozen look on her face and a gunshot wound had appeared in her chest. Tears swelled in her eyes when she realized that the shot had pierced through Joseph and at the creature killing it instantly. "…Joseph?"

A small smile formed on the child's face. "…Thank you", she spoke weakly. "…For trying to…save me…"

Shadow and Rouge watched in horror as the child collapsed to the ground.

"Joseph!" Rouge kneeled down to the little girl and shook her body trying to wake her up. "Joseph! No!"

The black hedgehog's red eyes flashed over to the officer who dropped his rifle to the ground and took off his helmet.

When he dropped his helmet to the ground, his appearance was of a red middle aged fox man. In shock, he stared at Rouge who was holding the body of the dead girl close to her. "My…God…what have I done?" He suddenly saw the hedgehog violently grab him by his vest and give him a furious look.

"You son of a bitch!" He yelled, "Do you realized what you've just done!"

"I…I didn't mean to…"

Rouge's eyes widened when she saw Shadow's reaction and thought they he would probably beat the man senseless for accidentally killing Joseph. She made her way over to the two and broke Shadow away from him. "Shadow, stop! He…"

He never took his angry eyes away from the saddened military officer. "He killed her! That bastard killed Joseph!"

Tears streamed down the man's face as he sadly stared at the little girl's dead body. He broke down on the ground and began to sob as he was filled with regret and remorse. "It was an accident!" He cried, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

**Author's Note: One chapter is left! Get ready!**

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Shadow: G.U.N. soldiers are here...**

**Rouge: You can't blame the entire military for one soldier's mistake...**

**Shadow: You call yourself trying to help people! You and the entire military are shit!**

**Vector: Shadow, stop!**


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

**SLEEPING PRINCESS**

It was early the next morning with the sun shining brightly and the birds chirping like there wasn't a care in the world. Shadow and Rouge had decided to go and give Joseph's mother the bad news. They both sat in a red sports car that was parked in front of a small house that was in a small and quiet neighborhood.

The white bat woman stared at the small house sadly. "So…this is the place?"

"Yeah." The black hedgehog looked and saw that she was holding a dark blue hat in her lap. The hat was the same hat that belonged to Joseph. He gently placed his hand on her thigh making her turn to him. He took the hat from her, "I'll be back."

She said nothing and made a small nod. She watched him lean over to her to give her a small kiss on the cheek and got out of the car. She saw him walk up to the front of the house and knock on the door a few times. Soon enough a brown raccoon woman who practically resembled Joseph had appeared at the door. Rouge bit her lip as she saw Shadow introduce himself to her and then showed her the hat. She wanted to tear up when she saw the woman slowly take the hat from Shadow and began to cry. She couldn't imagine how terrible she felt to find out that her only daughter who went missing for months ended up in such an unfortunate incident.

A few days later, the funeral for Joseph had taken place outside in the back of a fairly big church. The atmosphere was depressing with rain pouring from the gloomy gray sky. Joseph's mother, close friends, family, the Chaotix detectives, and even some members from the G.U.N. military had shown up. Everyone stood in the wet grass and had their eyes glued to the small coffin setting in front of them.

Espio stood beside Shadow who was wearing a black suit. He noticed that the black hedgehog seemed more angered than saddened. He leaned over to him and whispered. "You doing all right, man?"

His angry eyes shifted over to the purple chameleon. "…G.U.N. soldiers are here", he growled under his breath.

He now figured that Shadow was only angry that some military officers were there. "…Yeah they are, but they're only here to show respect. Don't let that one guy get to you." He noticed Shadow going silent and looking away from him. With the state of anger he was in, he decided to not say anything else to him.

Rouge stood next to Shadow and noticed how angered he was as well. She whispered to him softly, "I miss Joseph too but we can't blame the entire military over one soldier's mistake."

He looked over to the white bat woman who was wearing a black mini dress and a black blazer. She had a black umbrella that was big enough to shield both of them from the cold rain that was pouring from the sky.

She waited for him to speak to her but he said nothing and turned away from her. She had hated it when he was like this. He would get so angry, he would become stubborn and would rarely listen to what anyone had to say. She could see why he was so infuriated but in the end, it was just an accident after all. Her ears perked up when she heard his cold voice.

"Take a good look at Joseph's mother…"

She looked over to the brown raccoon woman was standing near the small coffin. She saw her sobbing and mourning while her friends and other family members circled around her trying to comfort her. It broke her heart to see her so torn up over her daughter's death.

"…That so called mistake just took that woman's only angel from her."

She sadly looked down at the wet grass and knew that no one had meant for this to happen but at the same time, she had to admit that she was both sad and angry about the situation. When she looked back up from the ground, her eyes shot open in disbelief when she saw a familiar man walking towards the small coffin. The man was a red fox. He appeared to be in his late fifties.

Shadow gave the man a cold and menacing glare as he stood in front of the coffin and placed a rose on top of it. He knew that he was the same military officer that had killed Joseph.

The man looked down to the ground and shook his head sadly as tears dripped from his face. "I never meant for this to happen…" He slowly lifted his head away from the ground and turned to the raccoon woman who was still sobbing. He figured that she had to have been Joseph's mother. "I'm…so sorry…", he choked.

The woman gave him a look full of disbelief and continued to scream and cry.

Before he could walk away, he spun around only to face an angered black hedgehog.

"How dare you show your face here!" The hedgehog spat, "Did you just come here by some kind of order or do you truly feel bad for what you've done?"

Rouge shook her head slightly as she saw Shadow angrily confronting the man. She turned to a green crocodile man who was wearing a black suit. "Vector…"

The red fox man trembled nervously as he thought that the hedgehog's anger was so bad it made him unpredictable. "I-I didn't mean it…I'm sorry…" he sobbed.

"What?" He spoke in disbelief, "You didn't mean it? You shot and killed an innocent ten year old girl! You call yourself helping people? Trying to make this world a better place to live in? Bullshit!"

Everyone gasped when they saw Shadow lay his hands on the man.

"It's people like you that makes the military look like absolute shit!" He was then forcefully pulled away from the man by Vector and Espio.

"Shadow!" Vector spat, "Stop this! Not here!"

The hedgehog clenched his fists tightly and huffed heavily before flashing eyes back at the terrified man. "I hope you enjoyed your years serving G.U.N. because I'll be sure you never wear a military uniform ever again", he growled.

Everyone watched as the furious hedgehog stormed off and began walking throughout the graveyard.

Before Espio could run after him, he felt a hand fall upon his shoulder. He spun around to turn to Vector.

"I'll go talk to him."

The chameleon made a small nod agreeing that it would probably be best for him to talk to Shadow instead.

When Vector found Shadow, he spotted him standing in front of a tombstone while smoking a cigarette.

Shadow heard footsteps approaching from behind him. He knew it was Vector but he never spun around to face him.

"…Shadow…" Vector called in a worried voice.

The hedgehog sighed heavily. "…We live in one fucked up world, Vector. You know how the court is about shit like this. Kill a civilian and make it look like just an accident…and the asshole gets off free."

The crocodile shook his head slowly. "No…this guy will definitely lose his job over this."

"I know he will but I'm just stating how it normally is in everyday life in the military." He took a puff of his cigarette. "…It must be nice…"

Vector remained silent as he listened. He knew Shadow was always bitter about G.U.N. but he never knew he was this hateful towards them.

He flicked his cigarette on the wet ground and looked up at the rain falling from the sky. "…Having the freedom to bark orders at people who they feel are inferior to them because they wear a fucking badge on their uniform."

He knew deep down that he was still upset over the fact that Joseph was dead. It simply wasn't just about the military. "…I know that this kid was a good kid, Shad."

"Yeah", he spoke as he placed his hands in his pants pockets. "…She was. She was so afraid of what the world would offer her but then again…she would never stop talking about growing up. She was so scared, she didn't know if she could do it but in the end…she knew that she wouldn't be able to…"

Vector watched him slowly turn to him.

He made a weak smile as the rain streamed down his face. "I suppose she thought of her life nothing but a fairy tale…"

**Author's Note: Well, here's some trivia for you...originally this fic was going to be my first adult story believe it or not. And when I thought of a plot, I totally lost sight of what the fic was originally going to be about. However, in the near future I will be writing another full on adult fic so don't be disappointed you pervs! lol Anyway, I hope you guys really enjoyed this fic. I wanna thank all my wonderful readers and supporters for being with me during my work on this story! You guys rock! Keep a look out for more of my work!**


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